Today in Tribe History: March 28, 1992

Sorrento was a fourth round pick of the 1986 draft by the California Angels but was dealt to the Twins as part of the return for Bert Blyleven in 1988. He made brief appearances at the Major League level for the Twins from 1989 to 1991, hitting a combined .222 with nine home runs and 27 RBI in a half-season total of games.

“I think I’m ready to play every day in the big leagues,” said Sorrento in a story in The Plain Dealer on March 31, 1992. “I’ve been talking about this for two years. Now we’ll see. It’s time to put up or shut up. I kept going back to Triple-A and putting up great numbers. Then the Twins would call me up. I figured I’d get an opportunity to prove myself, but I never got it. I know [Kent] Hrbek is one of the premier first baseman, but it got old.”

Hrbek separated his left shoulder hours after Sorrento’s trade to Cleveland.

With Cleveland, he became the everyday first baseman and blossomed into a power hitting threat. In four seasons with the Indians from 1992 to 1995, he hit .261 with 75 home runs and 266 RBI in 487 games. After the 1995 season, he signed with the Seattle Mariners as a free agent, spending two seasons in the Pacific Northwest while posting career highs in batting average, on-base percentage, and RBI in 1996 and home runs in 1997. He joined the Tampa Bay Devil Rays for the following two seasons and played in the minors for Oakland in 2000 briefly before ending his playing career.